with eight seconds left
by rumbelle
Summary: During "Endgame." Wally's final thoughts concerning him and Artemis before he ceases (to exist).


**AN: **Hi! So I couldn't stop thinking about what happened in Endgame (if you haven't seen it yet, spoilers _kinda _ahead), so I wrote this. It's unbeta-ed, but hopefully it'll be okay. I guess I'm not that great at characterizations, at least imo, so I'm sorry if he seems OOC, I'm working on it. (: Please tell me how I did? Thank you in advance for reading this. Written to Over My Head by The Fray.

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**with eight seconds left.**

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He was running, _speeding by _you could say if you wanted to. As soon as he realized what was going on-the fact that it had already collected enough energy to be activated-he raced out of the Watchtower. He saw his uncle Barry and his once-**removed **cousin Bart there, and he knew he had to be there, too. It wasn't an option in his mind; it was an impulse, an automatic response to something he had done so many times before. After all, isn't that what superheroes do? **They save the world. **And he knew he had to do this. He realized it as soon as the thought entered his mind: Barry and Bart weren't enough. They needed another. They needed _him_.

So he went and did what he did best. Even if he was slower than the Flash and Impulse, what did it matter? All that mattered was saving the world from imminent doom. All that mattered was being able to go back home with Artemis at the end of the day, to Palo Alto, to their dog, to their home, their normal life together.

"_Come on, Wall-man, you can do this."_

But then, all too sudden, he felt it. Something was messing up his speed, attaching itself to him, as an escape, a way out. He knew it before he could even think properly. The magnetic field disruptor needed a means to escape if they wanted to shut it down and save their planet, their home. And he had a feeling he knew where it was going to find it. On _himself_.

And to think he was looking forward to the day after today, to think that he would be able to go back and **retire **with Artemis, to go back to the way things were before this Reach mess happened, back when they just worried about college because they were **out of the business**. What made him think it was possible in the first place? Quitting the hero gig? Nah, that was not his style. Just look at how easily he came back in.

…But it was the right thing to do.

As he ran, he noticed that he was becoming translucent. Heh. He looked at his uncle Barry who looked at him with worry. Barry said something, but he could barely hear it. All he could think about was Artemis, how she was going to kill him for leaving her like this. It wasn't like he wanted to, but he needed to do this. It was the right thing, wasn't it? It was the hero thing to do.

"_Man, Artemis is going to kill me for this." _He tried to joke. He glanced at his cousin and uncle with a broken look in his eyes. "Tell them I love them, will you? Tell her I love her."

As he continued to fade away, he remembered the first time they met. When he saw that beautiful, olive-toned, blonde-haired, Asian girl in a Green-Arrow-like outfit…he remembered how embarrassed he was about falling over in front of someone he didn't know. It was embarrassing and so he lashed out. He made her the bad guy, turning his own feelings of embarrassment into something else. He didn't want her to see him as some kind of klutz, so he acted tough in front of her, acting like everything wrong was her fault, like she was bringing them down, when in fact, he was curious about her. She was an enigma in his eyes.

Then, the memory of their amnesia-induced "first meeting" floated into his mind. It was different. It was strange. It showed him that they could've gotten along, maybe if he hadn't been such a jerk to her, maybe if their first meeting had gone a little smoother. But it hadn't. Nothing was changing that. He realized that he had been attracted to her then. Hah, how far they've come since then.

Their first kiss on New Year's Eve of 2011. That was the start of it all, the whole relationship thing. They had gone on for five years and plus now, even with the little (or big) arguments and his forgetfulness about Valentine's Day. They had made it work. It was going swell. But now, it was ending, wasn't it? There was no more future here.

But the thing was, he didn't feel like he was dying. It didn't feel like what he thought it would; he just felt lighter, like he was ceasing to exist, like he was being _erased _from Earth. But what explanation was there for that? Nothing; even after these past 5 years, he was still a man of science. The only conclusion he could think of was that he was dying (somehow). What other possible, logical, reasonable explanation was there?

And as the last few seconds passed by, he remembered their last kiss. The one at the Eiffel Tower, where he had told her to remind him to take her there again some time after this mess. He was never going to be able to do that again, was he? He wouldn't be able to kiss her anymore, no more holding her bridal-style as she shot arrows and he ran like the wind. No more waking up to her every morning. No more seeing her smile as he did something thoughtful. No more **her and him**. No more _them. _

And then he was **gone**.


End file.
